An Epic Loss for Alphabet; Traders Eye Inflation Data; Harvard's President to Stay

On today's podcast: 1) Google’s legal defeat at the hands of Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. threatens to roil an app store duopoly with Apple Inc. that generates close to $200 billion a year and dictates how billions of consumers use mobile devices. 2) Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain in office after receiving backing from the University’s highest governing body , according to a report from the college’s student newspaper. 3) A monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics report due Tuesday is set to show consumer prices were unchanged again in November , giving the Federal Reserve room to consider lower interest rates in the months ahead, according to Bloomberg Economics. Full Transcript: Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. We want to begin this morning with an antitrust ruling that threatens to upend the mobile app economy. A federal jury in San Francisco has ruled in favor of video game developer Epic Games, declaring that Alphabet's mobile app store has a monopoly over distribution of programs and payments on its Android software. Like Apple's App store, Google Play charges up to thirty percent commissions for users, and it generates close to two hundred billion dollars a year. Bloomberg Executive editor Peter Elstrom says this was a surprise ruling after Epic lost a similar case against Apple two years ago, but he says there are some key differences. Google had a whole series of special deals that it was cutting with different companies from different fees within the app store. For example, Spotify, the music service, essentially bypass the fees from the Google App Store. In many cases, companies pay thirty percent fees. So the argument was that Google. Google had something that they called Project hug where they were trying to keep the most important apps within the store not go to rival stores that could compete against them in the Google Play Store, and Epic argued that this was at a competitive behavior. Bloomberg's Peter Elstrom says Alphabet plans to appeal the decision. Epic didn't seek financial penalties, but it is looking for changes to the Google Play Store. Well, we turned to Washington, now, Nathan, where the focus is on geopolitics and the fight over a foreign aid in Congress. Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelenski is in Washington for a two day visit. He spoke alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the National Defense University yesterday. Process war on Ukraine isn't just about Is it just about some old fashioned dictatorship trying to settle scores real or imagined. It's not just Moscou trying to split Europe again. It's put him put in attacking that big sheet that happened back in nineteen eighty nine. And President Zelenski also met with the head of the International Monetary Fund, A christ Alina Georgiaeva, who announced the dispersal of nine hundred million dollars in aid. Selenski meets today with President Biden and Republican lawmakers. They refused to budge on about sixty billion dollars in new assistance without funds for the southern border. Well, Karen, the focus is also on the other major global conflict in the Middle East. President Biden is warning Israel that public support for its war against Hamas could shift as the civilian death told mounts in the Gaza strip. The President is still backing Israel's fight, as I said after the attack, Mike, commitment to the safety the Jewish people and the security of israel Is right to exist, is independent as an independitary state is just unshakable. President Biden spoke at a Whinehouse Honkka reception as his administration pushes Congress for new aid. Meanwhile, Nathan last Week's Congressional testimony over campus anti semitism continues to Royal higher education. More than seven hundred faculty members at Harvard University have signed a petition urging school leadership to resist political pressures, including calls for the removal of President Claudine Gay. More than a thousand students at alumni, including billionaire donors like Bill Lackman, are demanding this school replace her, and this morning, sources tell the school's newspaper at the Harvard Crimson, that Gay will remain in office. After receiving backing from the university's highest governing body, Gay in the heads of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania struggle to say directly that calling for the genocide of Jews violates school harassment policies. Liz McGill stepped down as Penn's president over the weekend. Sticking with politics, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear former President Donald Trump's claims of presidential immunity over the Special Council's twenty twenty election interference case. Bloomberg Zed Baxter has that story. Special counsel Jacksmith filed the motion, saying it goes to the heart of democracy whether Donald Trump or any other president has what Trump has claimed as absolute immunity. Trump filed an appeal that would go to win Appellet Court, but Smith petitioned the highest court in the land to try to get an expedited ruling. It would end up there in any event. The fighting Mirk's the first time the Court has been asked to intervene in one of these cases on election interference. Regarding mister Trump, Smith is asked for the court to rule during this term, which ends in June. Ed Baxter, Bloomberg Radio, All right, ed, thanks. Elsewhere in politics, ousted former Congressman George Santos is in plea talk to the prosecutors, and Bloomberg's Nancy Lyons has the details. Prosecutors say in a filing that they're engaged in discussions with George Santos in hopes of resolving the matter without a trial. Santos was set to appear to hearing Tuesday. Santos is charged with multiple federal counts of stealing public funds and lying on federal disclosure forms. Two people tied to Santos's congressional campaign as former fundraiser and former treasurer, have both pleaded guilty to federal charges in Washington. Nancy Lyons, it's Bloomberg Radio. All right, Nancy, thank you. We have some major economic news on the calendar this morning. The November Consumer Price Index comes out at eight thirty Wall Street time. The final Federal Reserve meeting of the year kicks off today and we get the decision and Chair J. Powell's news conference tomorrow. Markets are looking for rate cuts next year. But Bloomberg Intelligence chief US interra strate Strategistyreg Jersey thinks Powell is going to push back. The Fed is still an inflation fighting mode, right and I think that they don't want the market to think that they're going to be cutting very early, because that's loosening financial conditions quite a lot. And because of that, the big risk is to markets on Wednesday is that they say, hey, we're probably not going to cut quite as aggressively as the market's thinking right now. In Bloomberg, Syra Jersey says, even if headline inflation meets market expectations, core CPI could remain elevated enough to keep rates on hold well into twenty twenty four. Tim how to take a look at some of the other stories making news around the world with Bloomberg's Amy Morris. Good morning, Amy, Good morning, Nathan. Firefighters didn't find anyone trapped in the debris of that New York City apartment building yesterday. Part of the seven story building collapsed, leaving apartments exposed and walls just sheered off. Neighbors are stunned. Came from the top first and it just started falling down everywhere. I just see a lot of stuff just flying down. I don't even know the bullet and phone and tire really look was scared. I was, I'm thinking, you know, oh, everybody's okay. Fire officials say two people did suffer minor injuries while they were evacuating the damaged building. After a poll last week showed Mayor Eric Adams approval rating for a record low twenty eight percent, there's a new poll showing who could be the person to succeed Adams. Leading the list. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Political consultant Ken Friedman says Cuomo would be a viable candidate, and he tells WABC New York the timing for Adams is just awful. The migrant issue is a terrible problem for any mayor, to be fair, and I can't you know, I've thought about it a lot. And have you put you put LaGuardia in office now, I don't think he could handle this, or even Giuliani. Frankly, some observers say it's the migrant crisis that's hurting Adams more than anything else. Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's defamation case is underway in DC. Giuliani had earlier admitted he spread lies about two Georgia election workers, accusing them of manipulating ballots, but now as the case gets underway, Giuliani now denies that he likes when I testify, to get the whole story, and it will be definitively clear that what I said was true and that whatever happened to them, which is it's unfortunate if other people overreact, but everything I said about them is true. The hearing is to determine how much he owes for spreading the lies about the women. President Biden last week said he was willing to make significant compromises over border policy now before Congress breaks for winter recess. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told the White House in his Senate floor remarks, it would be imperative for any other Senate support mister President when it comes to keeping America safe. Border security is not a side show. It's ground zero. McConnell's latest push comes as Ukrainian President Voladimir Zelensky is scheduled to address the Senate. Global News twenty four hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News. Now, I'm Amy Morrison. This is Bloomberg. Nathan, all right, Amy, thank you time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update, brought to you by Tri State Outy. Good morning, John Stanshout, Good morning, Nathan. The legend of Tommy Cutlet Stavino continues to grow. It's quite a story. Undrafted rookie quarterback latches on with his hometown team while still living with his parents. He goes from third string quarterback to first leads the Giants to three straight wins. Last night, DeVito ran for seventy one yards and he completed seventeen of twenty one passes, one per touchdown. Gasito in a shotguncept three receivers lacked partly news light Torino call signals and take what's the snack back to throw Woo's KOs White, Wo's Ques White looking for someone on cover crosse to the year zone touchdown Giants Hi Sea Hodgin on WFA N. Giants led the Packers by eight. Green Bay rally took the lead on a TV with a minute half to go, but de Veto drove the Giants into field goal range and they won twenty four to twenty two on a Randy Bullock thirty seven yarder. The Giants still just five and eight, but amazingly in the NFC, that's only one game out of a playoff spot. There were two Monday Nighters and the Titans of Dolphins also a thriller in Miami. Huge comeback by Tennessee down two touchdowns less than three minutes to go, they scored fifteen points a TV at two pointer or another TV fifty one seconds later. Tennessee won twenty eight twenty seven. Surprising details emerging about the show Aotani contract with the Dodgers. It is for seven hundred million dollars, but all but twenty million will be deferred and paid off starting in twenty thirty four. This allows the Dodgers to afford other players, and they're said to be in it for another Japanese import pitcher, y Ashinobo Yamamoto, who the Mets and Yankees also cover. Yanks met with him yesterday. Nixon Islanders both beat Toronto, the Nets lost in Sacramento. John Stash Edward Bloomberg sports from coast to coast, from New York to San Francisco, Boston to Washington, DC, nationwide on Syrias exam, the Bloomberg Business app and Bloomberg Dot com. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. We could have a sea change coming to the way we access the apps that make our smartphones more than just phones. The federal jury in San Francisco has found that Alphabet's mobile app store Google Play is a monopoly after a nearly month long antitrust case with fortnitemaker Epic Games. For more on this what it could mean for the multi billion dollar mobile app economy, we are pleased to be joined by Bloomberg News technology reporter Mark Bergen Mark, Good morning. What are the implications from this victory for Epic Games? Morning? I mean the implications in one way is that Epic and many other kind of all these apps that charge for subscriptions or sort of in app services will be conceivably able to pass us along to consumers. They will just state that cut they were making that thirty percent over to Google. If the policy actually changes, is that something that they no longer have to make and so that those companies will either have more money for their own shareholders or that they can actually just charge cheaper rates to consumers. Interesting to see that potential implication when the whole idea of antitrust cases is to try to lower prices for consumers. But you're thinking that Epic and some other app providers that might be the opposite case for them. Oh no, no, and sorry, I mean I presumably they could lower prices here because this is money that like, that's the argument that Epic has been making, right, that they the reason they have to have the higher fees is because that they you know, every time someone buys something within the app Store for a thirty percent cost to the Apple in the play Store, thirty percent coast to Google. And so now they've been arguing in others that they can pass these savings along with cheaper cheaper rates, pass the savings along. Okay, yeah, for sure, let's get the miss here there. But Epic lost a similar fight against the Apple App Store two years ago. What made its case against Google play so different? It's a really interesting question because I know Google will certainly argue that they are a lot more open than Apple. I mean, Apple is, Google has Android was a bunch bigger. They have, like they have a different Samsung soa it has its own app store, and Huawei, these sort of hardware manufacturers. Google is that does allow other app stores to exist on Android phones in a way that that Apple just doesn't on iPhones. I mean this this u is a different political climate in some ways, Like Google is back against the ropes on a number of issues around around antitrust and both with its search position in its app store. And this something that that Fortnite has been an epic its owner has been working on for years. So does this verdict have applications then for the Apple App Store or any other providers that offer app stores on their platforms, or is it just you know, just for alphabet This is I mean, this is a this is a two company market in some ways, and in many ways Apple dominates, right, So so another company sort of gives us a full clarity about how much they make. But you know a lot of estimates show that Apple just makes so much more money from that's app store, like iPhone users spend a lot more money. So this is something that could certainly impact Apple. I think you know what Epic CEO Tim sweet Sciaty's after is not just a legal victory, but he's actually after a policy business practice change. He wants the business models and the app stores to fundamentally change, and they have been for for the past few years, both Apple and Google have lowered the fees they take for some subscription services like Netflix, and they've made some concessions and been forced to make concessions and other markets. So I think, you know, we can also see that after the ruling, Google came out and said there they're contesting this, so they're certainly not going now without a fight. How difficult to fight is it going to be? Though? On appeal? I mean, we've been speaking to some legal experts that say the bar is set pretty high for Google to try to overcome the difficulties that faced the trial. Google has many well paid and veteran lawyers there you go, and outside law firms, so I don't doubt that they'll actually have enough kind of a legal fire part to keep fighting this if this does stand. Though, Mark, what kind of hit does Google stand to take from revenue? I mean, thirty percent fees is nothing to sneeze at, that's correct, But this is still a small portion of their overall business, right like this has something this has not impact their cash cow search search advertising, and then from there they make some farmer money on YouTube ads, on display ads across the Internet and the cloud business, and you know this is around the same down in the and the sort of they blump everything together with their hardware businesses like Google, Pixel and Nest Devices and then play Store. So it's not insignificant certainly for any of the companies that that's not an alphabet size. But as you see, I don't as far as I know, shares didn't drop tremendously on this news, and I think that's in part because the markets are aware that, you know, Google is this behemoth that has a lot of different lines of businesses and at the same time, Google's facing anti trust action from the Justice Department over search, particularly on cell phones where the app store, where the Google play Store lives. So in our last minute, could this case have implications for for that case, or it's trying to make maintain its search dominance on cell phones. I think. I mean, this certainly gives more ammunition to critics like Epic Games and Company and Spotify has been a critic of sapster model and companies that have been kind of willing to come out and take positions around and complains the Justice Department to the FTC. And so I think in that political sense, yeah, it certainly puts Google further back on its speed. All right, thanks for this, Mark, really good to get the clarity on this pretty important decision. With Epic Games winning its anti trust fight against Alphabet over the Google Place store. Mark Bergen covers tech for Bloomberg News. Now let's turn to geopolitics and the rising stakes for both Ukraine and its defense against Russia and Israel's fight against Hamas. Today, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski will continue to press his case for renewed aid multi billion dollars in aid to his country. He's going to be speaking directly to lawmakers in Washington, Whileen is warning Israel that public opinion could shift if the war in Gaza continues to take a severe civilian toll. And for more on all this, we're joined by Bloomberg News Senior editor Derek Wallbank. Derek, I know you've been monitoring President Zelenski's trip to Washington. This is day two. He's been speaking to the National Defense University, the International Monetary Fund as well. What should we expect as the Ukrainian president meets today with US President Biden and those lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Well, I think he's got a very tough job ahead of him. The aid to Ukraine is currently stalled amid package negotiations over aid to Israel, as well as Republican demands for increased border security measures. Zelenski walks into that fight, I think, in a much weaker position than he was in the last time that he was in Washington. Remember, he got received with somewhat rapturous crowds. He had addresses to US lawmakers. It was a whole it was a whole thing. For lack of a more technical term, it's not so much that in case. Right now, I think there is rising skepticism, especially on the right, over the over the war in general. There is somewhat of an increased appetite in Washington. You know, maybe not a majority opinion, but certainly a sizeable opinion uh that that this war needs to find an off ramp. And unfortunately for Zelenski, he's caught a bit between a rock and a hard place, because on the on the Washington side, you're talking about a difficulty with Republicans who, in fairness, may be trying to simply extract something rather than actually hold this up indefinitely. On the other side, in Europe, you've got he's having problems with Victor ORBN in h in Hungary, gumming up some of the aids there. And between those two things, you are seeing new aid pledges to Ukraine reach a substantial low compared to where it was earlier this year or even late last year. I mean, we're hearing some of the rhetoric from President Scolensky sounding quite a bit more dire if he doesn't get this aid, talking about the threat it could post a democracy if Russia's hand were to be improved by Ukraine not receiving this aid. What about that? Could that change any minds? Do you think on Capitol Hill, this idea that this is still a fight for democracy in Ukraine. Yeah, well, I think the number one mind that I'm particularly interested to see is the new US House speaker. Right, remember that, if we go all the way back, and it's not actually that far back, but to when Kevin McCarthy was speaker, there were some talks in the last funding as part of the last funding negotiations that Ukraine aid would be brought up at some point. Then, of course McCarthy stops being speaker. All of his promises go right out the window, and in comes Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Well, Johnson was quite a Ukraine skeptic before he took the speakership and before he started getting those confidential security briefings that speakers do get. Johnson was telling the Wall Street Journal CEO Forum just last night that he's going to have a message for his Zelenski to basically say, look, we've got to get all of this done together. He said he's going to tell them the same thing in private that he's saying in public. Sure, fine, that's all good. The question that I'm really interested in it is what is Mike Johnson's price for putting something on the house floor. If he put something on the house floor, it's probably going to pass. That's just the math of it. But Johnathan have got a difficulty because he's got to deal with his conference, and his conference is going to want things out of this how much? That's the critical question. What do you make of the you shift in rhetoric? It seems like we're hearing from President Biden when it comes to the stance toward Israel and the mounting civilian death toll. Well, Joe Biden warned at a Honika reception that a public opinion can shift on the war. Certainly, I think Biden has seen public opinion kind of sour a little bit on his own handling. Some of that is from within his own party. Some of his big supporters are are disappointed with how closely he has tied himself to Israel. At the same point, some people on the other side, of the more central side of the Democratic Party would say he hasn't done it enough. So he is in a very difficult political position on this, But as a matter of straight fact, he is right. You know, there is a risk as Israel prosecutes the war that the mounting civilian tolls could create a public a public relations problem for Israel in some of the country is that are backing them up, specifically in the United States. So that is a warning that he's been trying to do. But the problem is is that if you try, and politically speaking here, if you try and have it both ways, sometimes you wind up having it neither way. And the White House right now doesn't really have a ton of friends across the political spectrum with how it's been handling this, because each side would say that somebody else is doing it better or that they're not doing quite enough. This is Bloomberg Daybreak Today, your morning brief on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed at six am Eastern each morning, on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. You can also listen live each morning starting at five am Wall Street Time on Bloomberg eleven three to zero in New York, Bloomberg ninety nine to one in Washington, Bloomberg one oh six to one in Boston, and Bloomberg ninety sixty in San Francisco. Our flagship New York station is also available on your Amazon Election devices. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty plus. Listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app, Serious XM, the iHeartRadio app, and on Bloomberg dot Com. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.